We want you to be a part of our national movement to prevent child abuse and neglect.
We, at Prevent Child Abuse America, know that focusing on innovative prevention programming like that which focuses on home visiting, shaken baby syndrome, and sexual abuse, lays the foundation for children’s later growth and development and reduces the possibility of more serious problems occurring later in life. This kind of programming is happening now, in communities like yours, but it’s not everywhere, yet.
We know you can play a role in ensuring this happens – by learning more, supporting new parents, neighbors, and the communities where you live, joining the conversation, and activating those you know to take these same steps.
So, please visit our website to learn more about this issue and ways you can take action, as well as, those of our signature program Healthy Families America and our chapters across the country. And please, consider making a donation to Prevent Child Abuse America, so we can continue building our national movement to prevent child abuse and neglect.
Holiday Wishes from Prevent Child Abuse America. We can’t do it without you, your friends, family, and neighbors.
Prevent Child Abuse America wants to thank Congress and President Obama for enacting bipartisan legislation to enhance healthy child development and prevent child abuse and neglect. We look forward to working with you next year to get these programs fully funded!
TALLAHASSEE, FL - The Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognized a series of three 30-second ads created for Florida's Pinwheels for Prevention campaign with an Emmy Award in the Community/Public Service category. The Ounce of Prevention Fund, the Florida chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America, contracted with Ron Sachs Communications to produce the ads in English, Spanish and Creole as part of the chapter's implementation of a national campaign to prevent child abuse and neglect.
The spots, which feature a teacher, neighbor, CEO, law enforcement officer and NBA star Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, focus on the many benefits of preventing child abuse and neglect before it ever begins. "We hope these spots help people realize that child abuse and neglect has a lasting effect on us all and that we can all play a part in ensuring every child has an equal opportunity for healthy growth and development," said Christie Ferris, Director of Prevent Child Abuse Florida.
Prevent Child Abuse America is spearheading the national Pinwheels for Prevention campaign in an effort to create a national movement to prevent the abuse and neglect of our nation's children. "The Pinwheels for Prevention campaign has been gaining momentum in Florida and across the nation," said James M. Hmurovich, President & CEO, Prevent Child Abuse America. "We were happy to contribute to the success of this campaign and are extremely proud of the work being done through our Florida chapter. We also want to thank Dwight Howard for taking the time to appear in the series because it demonstrates the very reason we believe so strongly in this campaign. We all play a role in children's lives and we can all play a role in preventing child abuse and neglect."
Prevent Child Abuse Florida's public awareness efforts are supported with funding from the Florida Department of Children and Families through the Community Based Child Abuse Prevention grant program and is included in Florida's statewide child abuse prevention plan. A recent study on the campaign's materials found that parents are increasing their knowledge on healthy child development and resources available in their community that assist with child and family needs. The study will be published in the Journal of Health Communications next year.
"Research tells us that when we work to strengthen families, we can successfully prevent abuse before it begins," said DCF Secretary George Sheldon. "Our focus is on family-centered practice, which recognizes and respects parents' love for their children and builds upon the strength and potential of families. Our goal is to support parents by providing various resources and allowing them to choose what is best for them."
The Spots were broadcast over ten thousand times from April through June of this year on network television and radio stations throughout the state. You can view the award-winning public service announcement here."
We continue to be thrilled by the dialogue started by campaign to change people's Facebook profile pictures to cartoon characters to raise awareness about the prevention of child abuse and neglect. This dialogue has occurred both among individuals, as well as, across the media, and we thought we would take a moment to share with you just some of the places in the media this conversation has happened.
(2) Prevent Child Abuse America staff was quoted in AOL's Politics Daily column in a posting about the relationship between this campaign and the movie Tangled.
(3) Prevent Child Abuse America staff was quoted in the Metal Monster Marketing blog in a posting about Slaktivism and social media.
Please let us know about places where you see this dialogue continuing and please continue to visit Prevent Child Abuse America to learn more about the role we all play in healthy child development and the prevention of child abuse and neglect.
For over 38 years, Prevent Child Abuse America has been working to ensure the healthy development of children nationwide. It’s a pretty simple formula: when we promote healthy child development practices, we help prevent child abuse and neglect before it ever occurs.
We support innovative and effective prevention services, such as our signature program, Healthy Families America, which utilizes strategies proven successful at preventing child abuse and neglect.
We inform public policy decisions that impact children, their families and the communities in which they live. As one example, the recent health care reform bill included funding for early childhood home visiting.
We partner with a network of state chapters from coast to coast that engage people and communities locally to support children and families in communities just like yours.
We are building a national movement through our signature campaign, Pinwheels for Prevention®, activating citizens like you to embrace norms and behaviors that engage, nurture and enhance the lives of children and parents everywhere. We believe that you believe in our work and that you want to support it.
We hope you will continue to learn more about the work of Prevent Child Abuse America and continue to be an advocate for prevention, children and their families by visiting our website, as well as, Healthy Families America.
Today, we ask that you also support us financially so that we can continue being good stewards for the children of this country and the generations to come. We can’t do it without you.
We want to thank you, because the ongoing response to not only the Facebook cartoon character meme to raise awareness, but our commentary on its potential to change the dialogue around how we as a country invest in child development, community and the economy; expand the reach of innovative prevention programming and build a movement to prevent child abuse and neglect has been tremendous. There has been increased traffic to our blog, Facebook page and website; endless chatter across the internet and the growing sense that something different may be possible when it comes to creating equal opportunities for children's growth and development. So, we want to thank you for being part of this conversation and we want to encourage you to continue educating yourself about this issue and what you can do to prevent child abuse and neglect in your neighborhoods, communities and states. We also hope you will consider making a donation to Prevent Child Abuse America if you haven't already done so, so that we can continue making an impact on children's lives across the country. And we want to remind you that we are all advocates for this cause and we can all take steps to activate ourselves, our family, friends and neighbors around this issue, here, now, going forward and together.
What does changing your Facebook profile have to do with healthy child development, recognizing that when all children don't an have equal opportunity for growth and development we put our future as a society at risk or preventing child abuse and neglect before it ever occurs? Because you may have heard that there is an effort, some are calling it a movement, encouraging people to change their Facebook profiles to cartoon characters to raise awareness about abuse. What might this accomplish though, maybe nothing, and yet when an effort like this becomes part of the national chatter, is highlighted at Mashable, encourages individuals and businesses like First Day Entertainment to use this effort to raise funds on Facebook themselves, or even leads to the resulting, inevitable, rumors that something more malicious must be at play, we need to take a moment and recognize that this an opportunity for dialogue, and this is an opportunity to raise awareness, and not just Prevent Child Abuse America, though we did not start this campaign, but all of us, because we can all learn more, we all can be messengers for this cause and ultimately we can all take action. We at Prevent Child Abuse America know that focusing on innovative programming that lays the foundation for children's later growth and development reduces the possibility of more serious problems from occurring later on. We also know that there is all kinds of innovative programming happening in communities like yours right now, activities focused on home visiting, sexual abuse and Shaken Baby Syndrome, and so imagine what we could accomplish if we took this programming to scale? We can, but it starts with learning more, and continues by ensuring that these programs exist everywhere, and for everyone. We can all play a role in ensuring this happens, just as we can support new parents, our neighbors and the communities we live in. So, please visit our website to learn more about this issue and ways you can take action, as well as, those of our signature program Healthy Families America and our chapters across the country. Also, please remember that movements happen just like this, something small gets sparked, it makes us want to be part of something larger than ourselves, and it leads us to learn more and take action. Maybe this effort can be the start of a movement too, it's possible isn't it, it is, and that would be something, wouldn't it? Yes it would.
When shopping for gifts or cards this holiday season, please consider shopping with the following partners, all of which will donate a portion of sales to Prevent Child Abuse America.
